If you like "Water for Elephants"...
This book has become a favorite for book club discussions because it is so rich in interesting characters, historical background and compelling plot. Here are several other titles that are popular with book clubs because there is so much to discuss in all of them.
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.
On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split-second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. So begins this beautifully told story that unfolds over a quarter of a century in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by the fateful decision made that long-ago winter night.
The Girl in the Glass by Jeffery Ford.
Set in Depression-era Long Island, on the posh North Shore this story is narrated by Diego, a 17-year-old Mexican illegal immigrant. The boy’s mentor and surrogate father Thomas Schell had rescued him from the street and taught him to speak English and help hold phony séances for wealthy Long Islanders. Then Schell sees an apparition of a girl during a séance and believes this vision will lead them to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Charlotte Barnes, daughter of shipping magnate Harold Barnes.
The House at Riverton: A Novel by Kate Morton.
Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. At a society party in 1924 a young poet commits suicide. The only witnesses were the two daughters of the family, Hannah and Emmeline, and only they and Grace Bradley know what really happened. In 1999 the elderly Grace is interviewed by a film director planning a movie about the event. The novel is reminiscent of a Daphne du Maurier suspense romance and is evocative of the time after World War I.
Bel Canto : A Novel by Ann Patchett.
From the bestselling author of "The Magician's Assistant" comes a marvelous novel of love, opera, and terrorism set in South America. Two couples, complete opposites, fall in love; sexual identities become confused; and a horrific imprisonment is transformed into an unexpected heaven on earth.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.
If you enjoyed the characters and setting of “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen, I think you will enjoy these books for the window they offer into other lives and other worlds:
“Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café”
by Fannie Flagg
“This…novel takes readers back to the thirties, where a friendship blooms between two girls who run a homey, little café in Alabama. A story of food, love, laughter, and even murder unfolds as an elderly woman relates her life story to a middle-aged friend.”—catalog summary
“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan”
by Lisa See
“In nineteenth century China … a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, or “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The two women exchange messages written on silk fans and handkerchiefs using nu shu, a unique language the women created in order to communicate in secret … but when a misunderstanding arises, their friendship threatens to tear apart.”—catalog summary
“Tulip Fever”
by Deborah Moggach
“During the 1630's in Amsterdam, local inhabitants sought to secure immortality by having their respective portraits painted. Sophia Sandvoort sits for such a portrait next to her elderly husband Cornelis. The surroundings included objects representing her husband's piety along with a tulip. For Cornelis has made money from the speculation on this flower and its bulbs. However, as Jan van Loos begins to capture Sophia's likeness on canvas, a slow passion progresses between them.”—catalog summary
“The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie”
by Alan C. Bradley
“Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce is an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. In the summer of 1950, a series of inexplicable events strikes Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that her family calls home. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp pinned to its beak. Later, Flavia finds a man dying in the cucumber patch. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw.”—catalog summary
“The Bee’s Kiss”
by Barbara Cleverly
“It's 1926, and Joe Sandilands is back from Ranipur, yet there is a darkness behind all the postwar gaiety. Against the background of a looming general strike and pressure from an unseen governmental presence, Joe struggles to solve four murders, picking his way through the political panic and rebelling against authority.”—catalog summary
“The Elegance of the Hedgehog”
by Muriel Barbery
“The lives of 54-year-old concierge Reneé Michel and extremely bright, suicidal 12-year-old Paloma Josse are transformed by the arrival of a new tenant, Kakuro Ozu.”—catalog summary
“The Widow’s War”
by Sally Gunning
“When her husband is lost in a whaling disaster, Lyddie Berry finds her status as a widow is vastly changed. Her son-in-law sets out to strip her of everything she and her husband worked for, but she refuses to bow to societal and legal pressures.”—catalog summary
All of theses titles are owned by the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. If you have a CRRL library card you may put any (or all!) of them on hold, either through the "library catalog" link at http://www.librarypoint.org or by calling the branch library nearest you.
